In late September 2001, when Mayor Richard M. Daley and the city of Chicago told the Chicago Bears they could not sell naming rights to soon-to-be-renovated Soldier Field, the mayor was more concerned with politics than the fiscal health of the Bears. The result of the ban, however, could help the Bears' bank account and presence in the Chicagoland marketplace.
The mayor's dictum forced the Bears to farm elsewhere for revenue. That bore fruit in late June when Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips pulled off the biggest bank job in NFL history.
The club announced a presenting sponsorship deal with hometown behemoth Bank One. It was the first-ever presenting-status sponsorship deal in the NFL.
The alliance, referred to as "Bears Football presented by Bank One," is worth $4 million a year over 12 years and entitles Bank One to the highest status among the Bears' sponsors, including Miller Brewing, Coca-Cola and Cadillac.
Benefits include a high presence at Bears events such as draft day and training camp, premium positioning in the Bears' Chicagoland social outreach programs, signs at the renovated Soldier Field and advertising packaged into Bears non-game print, TV and radio properties. (The NFL controls TV game advertising.)
Soldier Field, opened in 1924, has been extensively remodeled within the footprint of its original colonnades, and is set to reopen this fall as a 61,500-seat "new" facility at a cost of $662 million. The city, largely through motel/hotel taxes, is covering $432 million.
The NFL and the Bears are kicking in $200 million, mostly from seat-license revenue. The owners of the Bears are contributing $30 million.
There are a couple of lessons in this deal that should get the attention of all sports properties.
Properties should never overlook the potential of elevating relationships with companies with which they are already doing business. In this case, Bank One has been the bank of the Bears since 1934.
Properties should step back and objectively appraise their sponsorship for-sale inventory. Most sports properties have obvious assets that are unidentified and unsold, representing lost revenue.
A presenting sponsorship for an NFL team makes perfect sense now. It also would have made sense 10 years ago. It's an asset that every NFL team has, and has always had. But it took the Bears to recognize and prove it.
Here's why this deal is smart. Chicago-based Bank One is the sixth-largest bank in the United States, with 1,800 branches in 14 states.
Its business is consumer, institutional and corporate banking, investment management and brokerage (including mutual funds), consumer and lease financing, student loans, mortgaging, credit cards (it issues 1,200 different cards) and insurance (it's in the process of buying most of the customers and business of Zurich Life).
Bank One is No. 79 in the Fortune 500. And the Chicago Bears are one of the most memorable brands in sports.
You better believe that Bank One is looking at many ways to leverage the loyalty and passion of Bears fans, and integrate this marketing program into all of its businesses.
This arrangement has much higher potential than many other sponsor categories because the value is keyed off marketplace activation, not advertising and hospitality.
Opportunity can come in many forms. It may not have been pleasant for the Bears to acquiesce to the mayor's wishes not to sell naming rights to Soldier Field. But because of the Bears' creativity, the outcome of the process replaced the naming-rights revenue for the Bears, and handed Bank One a unique opportunity to tap into the powerful brand equity, heart and community outreach efforts of the team.
Mel Poole (mpoole@sportsbusinessjournal.com) is president of sponsorship consulting and marketing firm SponsorLogic.
